Half-Life 2
In the wake of various FBI raids following the theft and distribution of the Half-Life 2 code, the creator of the infamous file-sharing application BitTorrent has been employed by Valve in an amazing and hugely ironic twist.
Cohen was approached by Valve's Gabe Newell to help with the company's floundering online distribution service Stream, a project that has suffered countless delays.
Speaking to the New York Times, Newell said, "When we looked around to see who was doing the most interesting work in this space, Bram's progress on BitTorrent really stood out. The distributed publishing model embedded in BitTorrent is exactly the kind of thing media companies need to build on for their own systems."
Given that Half-Life 2's source was made widely available though various peer-to-peer networks, this news is quite astonishing. There are also several ongoing investigations into the widespread illegal use of BitTorrent, spearheaded by the movie and music industries.
However, Cohen's take on the matter is somewhat relaxed to say the least. Speaking of the illegal use, he said, "I'm not going to get up on my high horse and tell others not to do it because it's not my place to berate people. I just sort of watch it with some amusement," unlike Valve, which went absolutely crazy when it realised that the HL2 code was available on the Internet.
Cohen was approached by Valve's Gabe Newell to help with the company's floundering online distribution service Stream, a project that has suffered countless delays.
Speaking to the New York Times, Newell said, "When we looked around to see who was doing the most interesting work in this space, Bram's progress on BitTorrent really stood out. The distributed publishing model embedded in BitTorrent is exactly the kind of thing media companies need to build on for their own systems."
Given that Half-Life 2's source was made widely available though various peer-to-peer networks, this news is quite astonishing. There are also several ongoing investigations into the widespread illegal use of BitTorrent, spearheaded by the movie and music industries.
However, Cohen's take on the matter is somewhat relaxed to say the least. Speaking of the illegal use, he said, "I'm not going to get up on my high horse and tell others not to do it because it's not my place to berate people. I just sort of watch it with some amusement," unlike Valve, which went absolutely crazy when it realised that the HL2 code was available on the Internet.
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Comments
omer48912 14 Feb 2004 12:41
1/3
HL2 code was available few months ago, I think that this whole code leaking was stunt by valve so that they have some excuse to delay this game.
It gave them some free marketing as well (which they wanted).
I think that HL2 will be out this Christmas not summer.
It gave them some free marketing as well (which they wanted).
I think that HL2 will be out this Christmas not summer.
SPInGSPOnG 14 Feb 2004 15:08
2/3
This is such a non-story, hyped up to heck!
It's neither amazing nor ironic that Valve have employed Cohen.. his work on BitTorrent is important and innovative,a nd it's exactly the kind of technology that companies like Vavle need to be involved with.
The fact that BitTorrent is is a peer-to-peer system, and the HL2 code made its way on peer-to-peer systems is purely coincidental. Positing that Valve should not work with Cohen because he has been involved with this "evil" techology is laughable. It's like saying that representatives of the US Government shouldn't shake hands with people because they guy who shot JFK used his hands to pull the trigger, or something equally f**king bizarre!
It's neither amazing nor ironic that Valve have employed Cohen.. his work on BitTorrent is important and innovative,a nd it's exactly the kind of technology that companies like Vavle need to be involved with.
The fact that BitTorrent is is a peer-to-peer system, and the HL2 code made its way on peer-to-peer systems is purely coincidental. Positing that Valve should not work with Cohen because he has been involved with this "evil" techology is laughable. It's like saying that representatives of the US Government shouldn't shake hands with people because they guy who shot JFK used his hands to pull the trigger, or something equally f**king bizarre!
neohxc 17 Feb 2004 14:55
3/3
Cohen! you sold out sukah! down with the man! haha
hmm wonder if he will leak some valve games this way... muahaha
hmm wonder if he will leak some valve games this way... muahaha